How to Launch a Sequential Facebook Advertising Campaign

Why does your Facebook marketing need to be more ‘pull’, less ‘push’?

‘Push’ refers to marketing messages that are broadcasted indiscriminately to mass audiences. An excellent example of a marketing ‘push’ would be a newspaper ad campaign.

‘Pull’, on the other hand, refers to marketing messages that entice the reader to find out more. These signals may be considered ‘narrowcasting’. This is where audiences are specially selected and offers are personalized to their specific needs.

This post will outline some of the reasons why sequential ‘pull’ marketing is vital to your business’s Facebook strategy and specifically how to launch a successful sequential Facebook advertising campaign.

Brand narratives are important

In 2017, there are very few barriers to entry when it comes to social media advertising. Businesses large and small are vying for their audience’s complete and undivided attention. So how do you stand out in this ocean of advertising?

Since the beginning of time, stories have brought societies together. Storytelling aids memory and connects us emotionally, as well as appealing to our universal sense of empathy. Stories can help us understand the world. And what’s more, they are the perfect vehicle for making your ads feel… less like ads.

Take a look at some of the best advertising campaigns that have triggered extreme happiness and sadness in viewers. The top campaigns tell simple stories that most of us can relate to: everyday scenarios and family relationships.

One event follows another, follows another, and then we reach a conclusion.

Sequential advertising offers an opportunity to get your audience engaging with your brand at crucial touch points in your brand story.

Getting narrowcasting right

To find the right audience and create an impact with your narrowcasting, you will need to research your market thoroughly. You can use social media and competitive analysis software to help you do this.

Take a look at some popular bloggers and social media influencers. The aim is to find out what your customers are looking for in a brand. How can you demonstrate that you will solve their problems with your marketing messages?

Once you have identified your client personas, head to your Facebook advertising tab and select a custom audience. Target a group of around 70,000-100,000 people by increasing the listed interests, one by one, until you reach your ‘magic number’. Suggestions will come up based on your input, so take note for future campaign targeting.

Getting your targeting right is a matter of trial and error at first. Simply picking out interests at random may not be the best way to go. Is there a more specific brand or cause that your ideal customer is likely to engage with?

Make a distinction between qualified and unqualified leads. You want to target people who are close to buying separately to those who are seeing your ads with fresh eyes.

Experiment with Facebook video ads to create hooks

Engagement figures for Facebook video ads can be staggeringly high. Auto-play features on smartphones catch the user’s eye and hold their attention — especially as consumption habits become more video-led.

A video testimonial provides social proof and can be a great way to explain your product’s benefits. It doesn’t have to be very long (under two minutes is best) and subtitles are a must, as many viewers will scroll without sound.

This is just one way to get started with a sequential Facebook advertising campaign. Over the space of a week or two, adjust your targeting and budget to bring in over 1,000 views.

1,000 views is the minimum engagement figure that Facebook requires for the next phase. You can allow Facebook to optimize the times of day your ad runs, or set the timings manually. The jury is out as to which method works best.

Create the path as your audience interacts with you

Take the data from your Insights tab to plan the next stages of your advertising campaign. If, for example, some viewers watched the whole video, retarget them with a right-hand-side product ad that will trigger their memory. If another group watched only 10 seconds of your video, target that sample again and feature a product gallery to hold their interest.

Keep trying to boost engagement at every stage of your campaign. Use ecommerce shopping cart apps that allow you to create discounts from your online storefront. The more you reward interactions, the more you will pull people towards your brand.

Recap: 8 steps of a sequential Facebook advertising campaign

You’re all ready and set to go away and launch your sequential Facebook advertising campaign (about time too). But before you venture off into the bright world of ‘pull’ marketing, let’s recap the steps you need to take to get yourself going:

Step One: Sort out your narrow casting – this means settling on your audience persona and how your campaign will answer the questions that absorb the minds of your audience.

Step Two: Select a custom audience from your Facebook advertising tab.

Step Three: Separate out your qualified and unqualified leads.

Step Four: Develop your custom audience for each – start at a number between 70,000 and 100,000 and then refine this by increasing the listed interests.

Step Five: Decide on the medium for your sequential Facebook advertising campaign, such as video.

Step Six: Release your ads.

Step Seven: Review the data from your Insights tab and establish what levels of engagement it has brought from the different segments of your audience.

Step Eight: Retarget based on the niche engagement characteristics you’ve noted from your data.

Test and refine as time goes on

As so many of us voluntarily provide Facebook with endless information about our preferences, the amount you can glean from sequential marketing data can be invaluable.

If you are seeing a boost in revenue from a discount sequence, you can infer that your products could be considered for repricing – or structured as a subscription model, for instance. You can also rigorously optimize your marketing budget to ensure that you’re doing all you can to lower your acquisition costs. Aim for under four cents per engagement.

Businesses large and small can benefit from a sequential Facebook advertising campaign – even if you’re coming at it as a complete beginner. Do what you can to hold users’ attention with a compelling story – and lay a trail all the way to the inevitable sale.

Victoria Greene is a freelance writer and branding consultant. She writes a blog called Victoria Ecommerce. Here she likes to share tips with social media marketers looking to maximize their ad spend.